“He’s her only living relative, so it was super hard for Mandy. Her parents died when she was ten. They’d never had much to do with him, but he still took her in. He raised her, so he was like this pseudo-dad to her. But, he was a major control-freak.”
Penny paused and thought for a moment, then smiled. “Mandy could be kinda rebellious, you know? Maybe that’s why we got along so well. We didn’t judge each other. It was always, like, we just wanted the best for the other one.”
I gazed around. Teddie Lawler, the girl we knew as Mandy Kenoi, was the niece of a wealthy and powerful businessman? “Are you saying Mandy fought against her uncle rather than taking his money? Is that why you two lived in this dump? Sorry, this place isn’t skid row, but it’s definitely in the less desirable part of town.”
Penny’s back straightened, and the set of her jaw stiffened. “Mandy never cared about having a nice apartment or living in luxury, she was determined to do the right thing. She was kind of cliché in that respect.”
“I’m not trying to criticize. We just want to understand.”
“I get it,” Chance said. His face was pinched, as though he felt the same pain. “Money’s not everything.”
Easy for a trust-fund baby to say. What would Chance do if he ever had to scrimp and save? Or had to choose between money and death? Apparently, Mandy had died for her values.
Penny nodded. “We tried renting a place in San Bernardino, but her uncle couldn’t get past her willingness to live off the money grid. He kept pressuring her to move into an LA glass tower. I had a friend who was in the business of helping people disappear, so we decided to make our escape. I created our identities months before we left. We figured it would be harder for her uncle to track us down.”
“My dad was really strict about who I could have as friends.” Benni said. “Did her uncle know about you?”
“He never approved of me when we were in school.” A faint smile played across her lips as she contemplated some memory from long ago. “When we graduated, Mandy told her uncle I’d moved away. We did everything in her name in California, so he never knew the difference. He was, like, blind when it came to trusting her.”
“I wish mine had been so trusting.” Benni snickered, and then tilted her head to one side. “So how’d he find you?”
“It was stupid. We were really cautious about setting everything up under my new name. It was like a double precaution. Switch people as well as identities. But, the longer we were here, the more reckless Mandy became.”
“Sounds like it was part of her DNA,” I said.
Penny narrowed her gaze and stared at me. “What’s that mean?”
“She was arrested, but never really suffered the consequences. Running away would have made those mistakes disappear, too.”
She closed her eyes and nodded. “You’re right.”
“When I was a skip tracer, I was always amazed by how skips were tripped up by their own indiscretions. It happens more than you know. What did she do here that was so reckless?”
“She never should have gotten involved in that save the water group, but she turned into this big do-gooder. She didn’t listen when I said she had to stay under the radar. I warned her so many times. Her uncle is on the other side in the fight against pesticides. She was, like, totally focused on how critical it was to get controls in place.”
“If it was so important, why’d she steal from them?” It was all I could do to keep the edge out of my voice.
“She didn’t!” Penny pulled back, rubbed her forehead, and sighed. “Sorry. I shouldn’t snap at you. Look, Mandy didn’t take the money. She was set up by Frank Alvarez. You want to know what’s so ironic? It wasn’t even great detective work on his part. He was just, like, super lucky. There was a big ceremony to celebrate the decision to close down sugar production. Maui News covered it, and Mandy was in the picture when it was published. I told her we had to leave right away, but she said there was work to do. It was also when things started getting weird.”
Chance leaned forward, both elbows on the edge of the table. “How?”
“Some guy followed Mandy out of the Pony Club. Then, she thought someone was following her at the grocery store. It wasn’t anything super-suspicious, but it was out of the ordinary.”
“Does Alvarez know where you live?” I asked.
She recoiled when another gust of wind shook the wall. “We were wicked careful, but he found out we’d moved to Maui. Once I realized he was that close, I freaked out. The guy’s a bloodhound. All he needs is the scent and after that, it’s just a matter of time.”
I knew the type. In fact, I’d been called the same thing, and much worse, often combined with a variety of obscenities. Being the one tracked was definitely less enjoyable than being the guy doing the tracking. “Has he been here?”
“You mean, like, inside? I dunno. We always booby-trapped the apartment when we went out. Her uncle and Alvarez, they have, like, infinite resources. I warned Mandy before we left the mainland and told her when they found out we were on Maui, they’d hire contractors to do the legwork. My friend told me a professional could find a way around anything I set up. Alvarez was good enough to get in and out without a trace. So the bottom line is, I’m not sure.”
“What about who killed Mandy? Any ideas?”
“Not really.” She shook her head and spent the next few seconds pulling her hair back and twirling the ends between her fingers.
In a crowd, whether it was at an airport or in a grocery store, this version of Penny would blend right in. I could see why she’d chosen the look. She wanted to disappear from the professionals. It was a tough task for anyone, no matter what training they’d had. One wrong move—I cleared my throat, not wanting to ask my next question, but knowing it was necessary.
“Do you think her uncle would resort to murder?”
“Nuh-uh.” Her response was immediate, but at least she didn’t laugh. “I kind of thought about it once, but as much as they disagreed on everything, he was fiercely protective of Mandy. It could be he wanted to reconcile or something. Besides, he never does anything for himself.”
“What about Frank Alvarez?”
“It wouldn’t surprise me. He’s got a huge temper. At least, that’s what Mandy told me. I’ve never met the man.” She brushed an unruly strand of hair to the side and swallowed hard. “Did you know he picked her up at the Pony Club after one of those meetings?”
Sounds and images rushed through my head. They cleared when Chance asked, “Is that when she disappeared?”
“It was a few weeks after the Maui News piece. Mandy said these new guys sort of dropped in, but each of them only came one time. Then, Alvarez just, like, showed up and confronted her. She told me he threatened to make it look like she’d stolen money from the group. Mandy got all freaked out.”
“Because she knew if anyone figured out who she really was and connected the dots she’d look guilty?” I asked.
Penny hung her head and buried her face in her hands. She chewed on her lower lip for a few seconds, then continued. “I talked her into telling Hisao what was going on. We were sitting right here when she called him and begged him to meet her at the Pony Club. She left, and that was the last we saw of each other.”
One hand flitted to her mouth. Her fingers shook and her gaze darted toward the front door. “I keep expecting her to walk in, you know?” Her voice cracked, and she sobbed openly. “God, I miss her. What am I going to do without her?” A moment later, she sat back in her chair, her jaw set, eyes flaring with anger. “You want help nailing Frank Alvarez. Don’t you? You’re asking me to commit suicide.”
44
I watched Penny’s face for a few seconds. The sadness in her brown eyes ran deep. Her face, mapped with splotches of emotion, clearly showed the longing for her friend’s comfort. As I glanced around the apartment, I wonder
ed how much of the influence in this home was Penny’s and what would be attributed to Mandy.
So much pain and hurt. All of it most likely delivered by one man, Frank Alvarez. The thought of letting him get away was more than I could bear. “Help us bring Mandy’s killer to justice,” I said. “If we all work together, we can probably put Alvarez behind bars for the rest of his life.”
This time, Penny forced a laugh and gazed at me with fear in her eyes. “How would we do that? The law doesn’t apply to people like him. Besides, I’m not strong enough. Mandy was the strong one.”
“That’s not true,” I said.
Lexie came and stood next to Penny, then knelt before her and took Penny’s hands in hers. “Don’t let Mandy die for nothing.”
Penny gazed at a white coffee mug on the kitchen counter. It had “Be Strong” written in bright red letters on the side.
“Was that Mandy’s?” Lexie asked.
“What? Oh, yeah.” Penny nodded to herself as though she’d reached some kind of decision. “She always said it was her daily reminder. What would you want me to do?”
All eyes turned to me, so I said the first thing that came to mind. “We need you to meet with Robson Poussin. Call him, tell him you have identified Mandy’s killer, but it will cost him fifty thousand in cash for the name. Say you don’t trust anyone but him, and that’s why he has to deliver the money in person.”
Chance shook his head. “It won’t work, McKenna. Where’s he going to get that kind of cash at this hour? The banks are closed for the night, and if we wait until morning, he’ll have time to put together a plan. The longer we give him, the more dangerous it becomes.
Benni picked up the “Be Strong” mug. “What if she told him she had something of Mandy’s he might want? A little sentimentality could go a long way.”
Penny choked back a sob. “It might work.”
“I like it,” Lexie nodded. “If he is missing his niece, he’d probably do anything to get some memento. It ought to appeal to him no matter how cold he is.”
“Do you know where he’s staying?” Chance asked.
“No idea.” Penny flipped her hand dismissively. “I wish I could be more helpful.”
“So do we,” I grumbled.
But, Chance was having none of my woe-is-us drama. “No worries. I think he’ll come here if we use the right bait.”
“Here?” Penny croaked. “I…I don’t like that at all.”
I thought about Chance’s choice of words, and my curiosity got the better of me. “Bait? Are you trying to lay a trap?”
“Precisely, McKenna. We need to use their tricks against them.”
I had a sudden flashback to the moment when the limousine pulled in front of the Ilikahi. The bottom fell out of my stomach as I recalled the conversation in the car. “They have to know we’re after them.”
Chance waggled his eyebrows and rested his elbows on his knees. “I’m counting on it. As soon as Penny calls, Poussin will be tempted to send a crew to the origination point of the call.”
A rushing sound filled the room. Apparently, the storm had arrived, and we were in the middle of a downpour. Not what we needed. Weather. I sighed. “How do you figure he’s going to know where she’s calling from?”
“If he’s been using a company that specializes in industrial espionage, he’ll have a way. The security guys will be on high alert, and I’m hoping they’re good enough to pinpoint the call’s location.” Chance looked at Penny. “Let’s not forget, if he really was spying on Mandy, he’ll already know about the apartment and you.”
“So you want to do a preemptive strike. How very Sun Tzu,” I said.
Chance winked at me. “Exactly. Penny sets an appointment to meet Poussin. This kind of guy will want to lay his own trap, so he’ll be there early. What we’re doing is trapping the trapper.”
Penny started playing with her hair again and stuck out her lower lip. She smiled as she picked up a small trophy in the center of the table. “He might come if he thinks I’m giving him this.”
The trophy stood about six inches high, had shiny brass plating that still gleamed, but the wooden base was stained with fingerprint oils. “Mandy won this when she was ten. Her parents had just died, and she’d gone to live with her uncle. He took a real interest in her back then, and this was their joint project for the science fair. She won, but it was the last thing they did together. Her uncle wanted her to be an aeronautical engineer, and Mandy was really into science. But, when she found out he was planning her life around that one project, she dropped it.”
“She had to be pretty smart.” Lexie took the trophy from Penny and inspected it. She smiled slightly. “My dad still has the one from my fifth-grade Spelling Bee.” She rolled her eyes. “He’ll never give it up.”
My pulse quickened. Parental pride. It could work. With Mandy dead, Poussin might be grasping at memories. “I can see where he might show up in person for something personal. But, how can we improve our odds? I’d like to make sure he doesn’t send Alvarez.”
The dream felt more confusing than ever. Was Kimu telling me about Mandy’s past, or what she’d been working on? Was he leading me to the Pony Club, or shooing me away?
“Why’d she lose interest in science?” Lexie asked.
“She discovered boys liked girls who wanted to party, not study. By college, she was deep into the party scene. It’s a miracle either of us made it through. Money was the only reason she went to work for her uncle. The man was like a drug dealer. He kept giving her more and more. By the time she got out of college, it was the only job she could get that would support her lifestyle. Then, one day she came home from work and said she’d found her life’s passion. She cut up the credit cards, and we moved to San Bernardino.”
“I guess that’s Poussin’s favorite tool—money.” I wasn’t about to go into my brush with riches, but recognized the pattern. “So if you call him and demand cash in exchange for the trophy, we’ll be operating on a level he understands very well.”
I chuckled at the simplicity, and the butterflies in my stomach. Did they mean the answers were near? “I don’t suppose you have anything like a big book of facts just lying around.”
“How’d you know?” Penny’s eyebrows went up, and she turned the trophy over.
She pried a rubber plug from the bottom. My spirits fell when a piece of red plastic clattered onto the table. Was she kidding? That little thing? It was nothing compared to what I’d seen. I shook my head when she held it up for everyone to see.
“Too small. What I need is bigger, way bigger.“
“It’s a flash drive.” Penny laid it next to her while she resealed the plug.
“What’s…on it?” I held my breath in anticipation.
“It contains all of Mandy’s evidence against Robson Poussin and Finance International. This is the reason we came here under new identities. Mandy had become a staunch environmentalist. When she learned what her uncle’s company was doing to the water on Maui, she spent months finding a way to steal this information.”
Lexie handed me the trophy, and I took a moment to read the inscription. “First Place Winner — Eagle Oaks Science Fair.”
I chuckled. “Exactly what kind of evidence is on the drive?”
“Some documents, emails, copies of internal memos. Basically, proof of bribes and other criminal behavior.”
45
The drumbeat of rain on the roof picked up tempo along with the sounds of gusting wind outside. The windows rattled, emitting a low moan from the rush of too much air being forced through a poorly insulated opening. I should have been excited, but couldn’t muster any semblance of a good vibe.
I grimaced as I turned to Benni. “The next time Mrs. Nakamura asks me for a favor, you have my permission to shoot me, okay?”
“Not happening. We’re going to figure
this whole mess out. Right?”
She’d tried to sound upbeat, but beneath the tough exterior, she was concerned.
“Is it possible Poussin has bribed some local officials?” Lexie’s voice shook as she spoke.
Oh, right. I hadn’t thought of that possibility. Her father was a city councilman. Poussin certainly did a lot of business in Honolulu. Yes, this would strike close to home for Lexie.
“Local officials? Depends on how far down the food chain you want to go. Mandy said one guy was on a county commission, and another was at the state level. There’s a big shot who’s federal. It was like this endless cycle. The more she learned, the more paranoid she became. We even got drunk the next night, and that’s when she told me about the flash drive.”
“Who handled the bribes?” I asked.
“Mandy wasn’t sure at the time. It was later, when she realized Alvarez reported directly to her uncle, that’s when she zeroed in on him. Once she saw how those two were related, other stuff started turning up. At least, that’s what she said. She never did let me see it. At one point she bugged her uncle’s office and recorded Alvarez talking about how to get more money to some guy they only called C.”
Penny swiped at a tear running down her cheek. “According to Mandy, Alvarez was the antithesis of anything good. From the way she talked about him, he sounded like someone who didn’t care about anyone. It’s too late now, but I get why her uncle hired him. He’s a fixer, the guy who gets things done.”
“So you’ve got a recording of Poussin and Alvarez plotting to bribe public officials.”
She nodded. “After Mandy heard them, she realized how far her uncle would go to win.”
“What about a company called Total Security?” Chance asked. “Are they in those records?”
“Sure. They’re the ones who used to handle the Maui situation. That’s what they called it. Alvarez worked through them for a while, but something happened with the company and Alvarez got brought into a meeting. They were all hush-hush and wouldn’t give any particulars, but it had to do with Maui. Mandy got suspicious when her uncle stopped writing checks to Total Security. After that, Alvarez reported to him directly. She started looking for more on what he was up to and discovered there was no record of Alvarez in Finance International’s payroll. Whatever job he had, it was, like, off the books.”
Maui Magic Page 23
